Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel - Striper Fishing

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel spans the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Henry and Cape Charles.
It is the largest bridge-tunnel complex in the world.
Measuring 17.6 miles from shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel consists of of more than 12 miles of trestled
roadway, two mile-long tunnels, two bridges, four man-made islands, almost two miles of causeway, and 5
½ miles of approach roads, totaling 23 miles. The Bridge-Tunnel's concrete supporting columns are
called pilings. There are 100 miles of pilings, 5189 in all. If placed end-to-end, the pilings alone would reach
from New York to Philadelphia. Much of the best striper
fishing occurs around the pilings of this bridge.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Striped Bass Fishing

Striped bass entering or exiting the Bay must pass through the Bridge-Tunnel complex, and
past its' islands and pilings. Barnacles, shellfish, and various crustaceans make the rocks around the islands
their home. They attract baitfish, and the baitfish attract stripers. Cast up near the rocky shores of the
islands in the early mornings, and catch the stripers feeding on the baitfish.

The stripers use the pilings to hide behind, and ambush baitfish being swept past the pilings by
the tidal currents. Fishing is usually best around the pilings on the outgoing tide.

Besides striped bass, more than 20 other species of fish are caught around the Bridge-Tunnel.

It is said that fishing at the Bridge-Tunnel varies between good, better, and fantastic!

Kayaks Fishing at the Center Span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Photo by Rich Watts, from the MDNR.

The Bridge-Tunnel provides a four-lane vehicular crossing (US Route 13) of the lower
Chesapeake Bay. The Bridge-Tunnel connects Virginia Beach/Norfolk to Virginia's Eastern Shore, and
cuts 95 miles from the journey between Virginia Beach and points north of Wilmington Delaware.

The Bridge-Tunnel opened for traffic in April of 1964. To date, over 90 million commercial
and passenger vehicles have crossed the Bridge-Tunnel.

Soon following its opening, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was selected as one of the
"Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World", and in 1965 it received the "Outstanding Civil Engineering
Achievement " award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2000, the Bridge-Tunnel ws recognized by
Structural Engineer magazine as one of the "Seven Structural Engineering Wonders of America for the
20th Century."